Feeding device



W. R. MATTSON FEEDING DEVICE Aug. 10, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 17, 1961 WILLIAM R. MATTSON V TOR. M

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WILLIAM R MATTSON INVENTOR. d

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Aug. 10, 1965 w. R. MATTSON FEEDING DEVICE Filed July 17, 1961 m g E i United States Patent O 3,199,893 FEEDING DEVICE William R. Mattson, Gloucester, Mass, assignor to Sylvania Electric Products Inca, a corporation of Delaware Filed July 17, 1961, Ser. No. 124,632 1 (Ilaim. (Cl. 242-57) This invention relates to machines for feeding thin metal stock from a spool on which it is reeled, and more particularly to an apparatus from which a predetermined amount of flat metal stock can be fed.

There are many different types of apparatus used in industry, but my particular device is more adaptable than prior machines to dereeling flat strips of metal from rolled stock, to be fed to different varieties of metal forming machines, for example, to the machine described in a patent application of O. H. Biggs et al., Serial Number 764,588, filed October 1, 1958, entitled Method And Mechanism For The Manufacture Of Laminated Core Inductors, having the same assignee as the present application and now Pat. No. 3,096,885.

Magnetic coils made of laminations of flat metal stock are used in various types of transformers, inductors, and the like. Although my apparatus can be used for other purposes, it is especially adapted for use in de-reeling stock for feeding to various forming machines.

In such equipment, it is necessary to feed a flat planar, deburred straight piece of stock to the forming machine to insure uniformity in completed components. However, the apparatus formerly used in'conjunction with such machines required separate dereelers and straighteners which occupied an excessive amount of floor space. They also had a decided disadvantage in that the feed arms deformed the stock, which in turn caused stoppage of the machine. An added disadvantage of prior devices was that the loading of new reels of stock on the dereeler was a very awkward and time-consuming procedure.

My invention will overcome the above and other disadvantages of prior dereelers, because the individual reels of flat stock can be readily loaded on the dereeler by simply pivoting the reel assemblies 90 from their operating positions. When the reel assemblies are fixed in an operating position on the dereeler, the stock is fed between a set of motor-driven pinch rollers. These rollers have a dual purpose in uniformly feeding the stock from the stock reel to the core-forming machine, in that burrs in the stock will be eliminated and all deformations will be straightened. Switches are located between the coreforming machine and the motor-driven pinch rollers to activate timing devices which activate the motors and feed specified amounts of stock to the core-forming machine.

A feature of this invention is an apparatus having two reels, either or both of which can operate independently of one another, to feed fiat metal stock to a dual core forming machine.

Another object of this invention is to deburr the edges of flat metal stock to insure uniform structure of core components.

A still further object of this invention is to eliminate any deformations on the flat stock before feeding the stock to a core-forming machine.

And still another object of this invention is to provide an automatic feed device whereby a predetermined amount of flat stock will be fed from a dereeler to a coreforming machine.

These and other objects and features of my invention will be more fully understood from a detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the apparatus.

3,199,803 Patented Aug. 10, 1955 FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus showing in particular the relative locations of the stock reels in th ir operative position and the direction of movement to position the reels in their loading position.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary detail of the pinch rollers showing in particular the driving means and a portion of stock being fed therethrough; and FIGURE 4 is an enlarged plan view of the pinch roller assemblies.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 the apparatus of my invention has a base member or floor support 1, two identical reel assemblies 3 pivotally supported from a vertical pivot post 5, a vertical support member 7 which in turn supports dual motors 9, prolongating switches 11 and a pinch roller assembly 13, and a pair of electrical initiator switches 15; the switches being supported on an angled support 17 fixed to the vertical support 7. Each of the above-mentioned dual assemblies generally is identical in structure, but function independently of each other.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, as mentioned above the two identical reel assemblies 3 are positioned side by side and pivotally mounted on a vertical pivot post 5' by a pair of spaced-apart support arms 19. These support arms if) hold the rotatable reel shaft 21 at their upper distal end. The stock reels include two spaced-apart circular discs, an inner removable plate 23 and a fixed base disc 2'5, the space between the discs being determined by the width of the stock to be used. When desired however, the two plates 23 may be made into a single plate, fixedly attached to the base of the dereeling assembly. The stock '73 will then turn free of any turning of t e plate 2.3. Fixed to the outer side of the support arms 19 is a lockin rod 27, which is held and guided for vertical movement by a pair of bosses 29 and 31, between which and encircling the rod 27 is a compression spring 33 that is secured to the rod 27.

The spring 33 is entrapped between the bosses 29 and 31 and is fixed to the rod 27 and this will bias the rod 27 downwardly. Located directly below the bottom end of the rod 27 a tubular locking stand 35 is fixed to the base member 1. Therefore the rod 27 as mentioned above is urged downwardly by spring 33 to seat the end of rod 27 into the tubular locking stand 35.

The real assemblies 3 are locked in their operative positions by the above-mentioned mechanism. Easy loading of stock to the reels is accomplished by manually lifting rod 27 thus freeing the lower end of the rod from the tubular locking stand 35, and then pivoting the reel assembly 3, about the pivot post 5 as shown by the direction arrows in FIGURE 2. In this position a similar tubular locking stand 36 is located at the 90 position to receive the end of rod 27, thereby locking the reel assembly in its loading position. A new reel of stock can be quickly loaded to the reel housing by simply removing the outer disc 23, but in the case where disc 23 is fixed to the dereeler, the stock reel will be exposed without such removal. After the loading has taken place the reel assembly 3 is then rotated back and locked in its operative position.

The pinch roll assemblies 13 are located forward of the reel assemblies 3. The pinch roll assembly 13 comprises a flat base plate 37 located at the top of the vertical member 7. A pair of fixed side plates 39 extend upwardly from the base plate 37. Mounted between the side plates 39 are a pair of independently operated motorized roller shafts 41, which extend from side plates 39 into bearing housing 49. Each roller shaft 41 has a roller surface 42 the width of which is equal to the spacing of the reels 3. A sprocket gear 43 is fixed to each roller shaft 41 adjacent the side plates 39, see FIGS. 3 and 4. A suitable roller chain 45' is provided for each sprocket 43 and the chain 45 extends downwardly to engage similar type sprockets 47 as shown in FIG. 1. The lower shaft 41.

sprockets 47 are pinned to motor shafts 49 driven by the motors 9. Through this means the roller shafts 41 will be driven independently of one another by their individual motors 9. A pair of fixed vertical pivot members 51 are secured to outer surfaces of the side plates 37 and extend above the side plates 37 to provide a pivot means for a pair of top pivotal plates 53. The plates 53 pivot about a pin 55 extending from the vertical plate 51. Positioned between the side pivot plates 53 is a single top roller shaft 57. This roller shaft 57 is positioned directly above the roller shafts 41 and is provided with a pair of rollers 61 similar in size to rollers 42 on roller This top roller shaft 57 terminates in the pivotal side plates 53. An adjustable tensioning screw 63 is fixed to the distal end of each pivotal side plate 53; with this arrangement the top rollers 61 will be tensioned against the lower motorized rollers 42. This will insure a pinching or tight pressure roller efiect so that material fed between the rollers will be deburred and formed into fiat, planar surfaces.

It is necessary initially to start the material or stock between the rollers 61 and 42 which are held together in close contact by tension screws 63. This is accomplished by a manually operated cam arm 65 having a plate cam 71 afiixed thereto mounted rotatably on the lower fixed side plate 39. Positioned directly above the cam of arm 53 is a pin 67 fixed to the pivotal side plate 53. The plate 13. In this particular instance the stock or material 73 is fed between rollers 42 and 61 at a faster speed than the core-forming machine is operating, therefore as mentioned above a certain amount of stock or material 73 is fed through the pinch roller assemblies 13 until the prolongating switch 11 deactivates, thus terminating the stock feeding from the stock reels 3. The core-forming machine continues to operate using the stock 73 which has accumulated as seen by the line of travel 730 in FIG. 1 between the pinch roller assemblies 13 and the coreforming machine (not shown). This stock or material 73 will be used until it goes from that path of 73a to that of a more direct path 73b, FIG. 1, and further use of the stock will bear against the arm of the switch and cam 71 on cam arm 63 contacts the pin 67. Normally I the smaller radius of cam 71 will abut against the pin 67, but to move the top rollers 61 from engagement with the lower rollers 42 to introduce the stock or the material between the rollers, the cam arm 65 is rotated to bring the high portion of the plate cam 71 in line with the pin 67. This movement will lift the top pivotal plates 53 that carry the top rollers 61 and will space the top rollers 61 from contact with the lower fixed rollers 42.

Material of flat stock 73 can now be fed between the rollers, after which the cam arm 65 and cam 71 are moved back to their operating positions allowing the top rollers 61 to be compressed against the material or stock, as seen more clearly in FIG. 3, to remove any burrs and to straighten and feed the material or stock at a uniform speed.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 the material or fiat stock 73 will pass between the rollers 42 and 61 and will be fed to a core-forming or similarnlachine. I have provided my apparatus with an adjustable prolongating switch 11 which activates the motor 9 which feeds a predetermined amount of stock 73 through the pinch roller assemblies therefore will actuate the initiator switch 15 located forward of the pinch roller assemblies 13 and positioned on the angled bracket 17. The switch 15 will energize the prolongating switch 11 to again feed a predetermined amount of stock to the core-forming machine.

It is apparent that changes and modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the instant invention. It is my intention however, to be limited only by the appended claim.

As my invention I claim:

Apparatus comprising in combination: a stock reel; means for rotatably supporting said stock reel; means for withdrawing stock from said reel comprising a pair of deburring rollers disposed tightly against each other; tensioning means holding said rollers together; a motor operatively associated with one of said rollers whereby said roller can be driven; an initiator switch and a time prolonging switch, said switches operatively associated said motor when stock previously fed from said roller trips said initiator switch which in turn activates said time pr-olongating switch thereby withdrawing stock from said reel and dereeling a predetermined amount of stock as predetermined by said time prolongating switch.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 919,371 4/09 Mitchell 15354 2,149,069 2/39 Plympton et al. 15354 2,246,840 6/41 Crane et al. 153 s4 FOREIGN PATENTS 150,959 4/53 Australia.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner. 

